Naruto Saw Them Last
by insaneschitsoid
Summary: Because almost no one is gonna search for that particular crossover. Someone in Konoha is starting to kill civilions and ninja; who is it, and why are they doing this?
1. Summary

~Flashback/End Flashback~

"Talking"

'Thinking'

_Writing-Reading-Remembered Conversations_

**Demon Talking... or Roaring**

Title of Something

_Emphasis on Something Already in Italics_

Summary: There's a serial killer running around Konoha, killing people off in the sickest ways imagionable before feeding them to his kitsune, demon foxes. Who is this killer, what are his motives, and why is he in Konoha? Why is he collecting followers? Where is he doing all of this? These and many more questions will only be answered in the following chapters.


	2. The Kitsune Summoner

"Mmmn... huh... uwa?"

As young, nineteen-year-old Mitarashi Anko roused from her sleeping state, she became aware that she was sitting, upright, in a chair, attached to the strangest device she'd ever seen.

"What... ugh... what's happenin' here?"

She went to move her head, but thought better of it, instead opting for moving her arms and legs. It didn't work; her ankles, from what she could feel, were tied to each of the legs of the chair. She screamed as she tried to move her wrists, flailing reflexively at the pain before freezing. She looked down, breathing heavily, at her hands, bound with barbed wire to the chair's arms. Her feet, though, like she'd guessed, were bound only with rope.

"Ng! What the Hell?!" She yelled to the empty room, flailing her body so it moved her but kept her hands from their pain.

She heard a wire snap somewhere behind her and froze, expecting a trap to go off and either kill her or harm her moreso, only to flinch when the contraption on her head released itself and moved away and a TV she hadn't noticed before fuzzed to life.

Shhhhfffff- _"Hello, Anko. I would like to play a game."_

She narrowed her eyes at the child-like voice; where had she heard it before? She almost had a heart attack when the screen flashed red, bathing her in a bloody glow. When a video of a fox in a cage, ripping apart a once-living rabbit, was shown on it, she cursed herself for looking away at all.

_"The video you see before you depicts your situation; a trapped predator, relying on her instincts to survive; she saw the prey, she killed it."_

Her eyes adjusting to the ascued lighting, Anko could see a VCR above the monitor, a rig hooked to both its play button and to the on button of the TV.

'It's not live then...' she thought, scanning the room with the new-found freedom of her head and neck.

_"The other thing this fox also depicts: you're both trapped in one way or another."_

As Anko tensed, the door to the cage the fox was in opened, and a pair of small, gloved hands pulled the animal from its confines before the whole scene changed; now it was a black cat she swore she'd seen somewhere before caught in a small trap; similar to a bear trap at first glance, but hooked to some kind of rigging. The camera angle zoomed out, and she could see that there _was_ more to it. Above the cat was another fox, at least three times the size of the last, also in a cage; the only difference being the constant, desperate thrashing from one side to the other to another the beast was currently focussed on. The beast stopped to growl and yip madly at both the small cat beneath it and what she presumed was the camera. It was in that position that she noticed the other vital differences between it and the last fox. This animal had three tails, pearcing brown eyes, and was frothing uncontrolably from the mouth. This was not a hungry fox; this was a kitsune, either with rabies or severe starvation. A suspenseful shiver ran down her spine before she could stop it.

_"As you undoubtedly see, Anko, this fox is 'much' different from the other. What you may not have seen is that it is no longer in your place here; the cat is."_

Anko gasped, glancing quickly between the cat and kitsune.

_"Poor kitty here has lived to be the ripe old age of... oh, look at this! This little kitty has lived to be fifty seven years old! Now, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure cats are only supposed to live for 'fourteen' years, sixteen max. I think 'this' cat has quite outlived its time here. What do you think?"_

The voice on the tape laughed a bell-like laugh, one fitting a small child.

'Five years old, maybe six or seven...' Anko thought, going through the small clues in her mind.

_"But,"_ The voice said, cutting through her thought process. _"That's not why Tora is in his current position."_

Anko gasped as memories of chasing the cat of the Daimyo's wife and trying and failing to catch it as a genin flashed through her mind.

_"Yes, no doubt you remember Tora."_

The camera zoomed out a little further, showing a length of red ribbon off to the side, before zooming back in to the previous position.

_"The basic genin D-rank mission: find, capture, and return to the Daimyo's wife. Well, he won't be returned this time, will he? What you see here is a contraption of my own creation- well, actually, everything but the cages and the raw material are my creations. Anyway, it's modeled after the one you yourself are in. It's hooked to a timer which, no matter what, will unlock the cage above it, setting loose the hungry kitsune. The point is to escape both the trap and the room by any means nessesary before the kitsune is set free and the doors lock forever."_

'Lock for-?!'

Anko started frantically going through all of the information in her mind, trying to piece together exactly how she got there and who could have possibly done all of this.

_"Because you are a ninja, Anko, I know just what you're thinking about right now. You're wondering how you got here, ne? Well, it's all in your head."_

Anko flinched at the familiar saying, remembering the years of useless, repressed therapy the stupid Hokage had forced her through not eight years ago.

_"You remember what I said about a timer, yes? Well, when this tape ends and the TV automatically turns off, it will trigger both the timer and the lights. You'll be able to see exactly what you're doing, but you'll only have one minute to do it. After that timer runs out, Anko, it will set off another timer, also one minute, and then the cage. I may want to teach you something the hard way, but it's only common curtesy to let your students know what it is they're learning, ne?"_

The voice stopped, video still running, and Anko could only watch it, unable to see acurately what was around her. She watched poor Tora yank, pull, and spasm as he tried to break free of the small-yet-strong trap, listen to him yowl and whimper with every move of his foot.

A loud clanking noise came from the TV suddenly, startling Anko, and she watched, horrified, as the trap snapped fully closed, Tora's leg still in it, and the bottom of the cage fell open, the kitsune scrambling to right its self before focusing on the smaller cat. The video fuzzed out right as the kitsune lunged for Tora, who'd given the beginning of a pained yowl, making Anko want to cry out for it to stop. It blipped back to the room, camera bloodied again, and showed the three-tailed kitsune contentedly ripping apart the small black carcass. It fuzzed back to the small cage with the bloody, shredded rabbit, focusing in on the fox tearing through the flesh.

Anko felt her blood run cold as it changed to large, cold, bloodthirsty red eyes, and a deep, demonic voice finnished the tape.

_"Good Luck."_

And then Anko saw exactly what was around her.

"AHHH!"

* * *

"Ugh... ug-Huh? WHAT!? WHERE AM I?! WHERE AM I?!?!"

The man looked around the room he was in; tiled walls, tiled floor, sinks and urinals to his left, a few door-less stalls with toilets to his right.

He tried to move, to run to the door he could see across the room, but he realised he couldn't as he fell to the floor and heard clanging in the background. Looking at his feet, he saw a chain, each link at least a half-inch thick, wrapped and pad-locked around a thick round of piping sticking out of the wall, coming to rest at the shackle currently clamped around his right ankle.

"Ugh..."

He snapped his head back to the front, startled by the sudden voice, and saw another man in his same predicament.

"Hey... hey, you there! Hey wake up!"

He pushed his brown hair out of his eyes before looking around him for something to throw. He picked up a loose tile and threw it at his companion. It bounced off his face, successfully waking him up.

"Ugh... wha- what's going on?"

"We've been kidnapped and chained in a bathroom, you idiot, now help me figure a way out of this!"

An intercom clicked above them, and they froze, listening for any sound.

"... okay, I want you guys to listen.'

"Who the fuck are you?!" He screamed

"I can't tell you, it's against the rules!" The voice yelled. The man was taken aback at how the last few words broke. "Now just listen! I'm supposed to play you this tape when you woke up, so you need to listen to it if we're getting out of this alive!"

"Alive? What do you-"

_"Hello, Kushiki Bantsu, Maramo Waso. And a hello to you at the intercom, too. I wont say your name for obvious reasons. I'd like you play a game."_

At the sound of the child's voice, Waso snapped.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?! WHAT KIND OF A SICK JOKE IS THIS?!?!"

_"Bantsu, Waso, you currently find yourselves chained to piping, am I correct?"_

"This is a kid!" Waso said, thrashing his chain around. "We're being held by a fucking kid! He can't be more than ten fucking years old!"

_"These pipes are hooked to seperate power suppliers. At any moment, if either of you break the rules, one or both of you are getting electricuted. The object of my game is simple: at least one of you three has to leave here alive to win it. Out the door, through the halls, and out of the building. The only problems: you're each chained to a pipe in the wall, and the door you see doesn't lead to anywhere but a chalkie end. The only way to accompilish this mission is to find the conection all three of you share and, this is the most important so listen closely, you have to play by the rules."_

Waso looked at the man across from him. He'd never seen the man in his life, how could they share any kind of connection?!

_"I'll give you a clue to get you started: You both live in the same place, very far apart. You have thirty minutes; good luck."_

As the two looked between each other, looks of panic and confusion on their faces, the person in the radio room stopped the tape and turned the intercom off before starting the timer.

--

00:00:01

--

He sighed, sitting down in the rickety old computer chair. Re-adjusting his headband, he got the next tape ready before the memory of his predicament resurfaced.

~Flashback~

_"-You must make the choice; die, or sacrifice yourself to save another. The clock to your fate is ticking. Good luck."_

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?! SHOW YOURSELF YOU COWARD! IF YOU COULD MAKE THAT VIDEO YOU CAN HOOK UP SERVEILANCE TO WATCH ME IN HERE, TOO, NOW SHOW YOUR FACE!!"

He panted after his outburst, his earlier thrashing not doing anything to lessen his fatigue. The muffled cries and whimpers of the room's only other occupant drew his attention, along with his anger.

"Shut up!" The woman flinched and started crying harder when the wire around her neck tightened. "Just stop making noise!" The repetitive ticking in the background did nothing to quell his mood. Nor the loud roars of a starving beast, coming closer and closer.

_Twenty one four-foot walls are the only things separating the both of you from a seven foot, one tailed kitsune, and it will take exactly one minute to knock down each wall._

"AGHH! FUCK THIS!" He screamed, wrenching his arms from their glass confines.

The muffled screams of Hatori Nesa were cut short... as was her head, severed from her shoulders by the ninja wire around her neck, connected to both of the man's wrists. After pulling them from their confines, slicing his hands on the ragged edges, he pulled as hard as he could, breaking the wire in half, and ran to the other side of the room.

_In the corner of the room nearest the two doors, there is a large glass jar of sand from the Land of Wind. This particular sand used to rest in a salt-water owasis, created by Suna's Shodaime Kazekage as a trap for unwanted visitors. It has long since dried up, but the salty sand remained. Inside the jar, hidden by the sand, is a large iron ring. On this ring, there are exactly twenty one iron keys; one for each wall the kitsune has to break through. Only one of these is the right key, but it will fit both of the doors._

He plunged one of his hands into the sand, growling at the sting he felt, and pulled out a ring of keys. He ran to the doors on the other side of the room, one marked with a red '1,' the other with a red '2.'

_One door will lead you down a long hallway to your freedom; One door will open to another large, though not as hungry, one tailed kitsune. I've made sure to sound proof them so as not to give you any idea as to which one contains the kitsune. In order to choose the right door, you must first solve this riddle: There are two jounin ninja of equal strength, aproximately seven meters apart; that's twenty one feet to you, Nesa. If they each send a kunai towards the other at the same moment, how many feet will the kunai travel before the other can parry the kunai? The answers are each painted on the door._

'That doesn't make any sense! It wasn't a multiple choice question, it was a full-answer question!' "DAMNIT!" He yelled, punching the wall. He paused when te sound of dust scattering reached his ears. he pulled back from the wall and saw gray pebbles and dust on the ground. Looking at the '2' door, he noticed there was more red paint.

He quickly wiped away at the area next to the '2,' the only sign of pain being the slight twitch of his good eye.

He stepped back from the doors and took another look at them. Instead of '1' and '2,' they now read '1' and '20.'

'How many feet will the kunai travel before the other can parry the kunai, 1,' He looked to the first door, 'or 20? He looked at the second door. 'Obvious answer; 1!'

He went over to the first door, flipping through and trying each key before he found one that fit. Looking at the clock behind Nesa's still, quiet body, he saw that he had ten minutes left before the kitsune was supposed to reach the room he was in. The knowledge that he wasn't going to get eaten by a bloodthirsty demon calming him slightly. As he turned the key, he froze.

_Two jounin ninja of equal strength... if they each send a kunai towards the other at the same moment, how many feet will the kunai travel before the other can parry the kunai?_

He slid the key out of the lock and walked to the door with the 20 painted on it.

'If they're both jounin and have the same strength, it will take them a moment to send the kunai, one moment to realise there's one heading towards them, one moment to get another kunai, and one moment to swing that kunai to deflect the other. The answer to that would be one foot. But the kid didn't say deflect; he said parry. To parry means to hit the target dead on to stop it from colliding with you. You wouldn't run twenty feet to parry a kunai if you could just dodge it, so the actual correct answer is 20 feet; the kunai will be parried when it's a foot away from the body, and it traveled twenty feet to get there.'

As he closed the door behind him he dropped the keys in surprise when they automatically locked behind him. He scrambled to pick them up, determined to keep them in his possesion just in case. When he stood back up, he saw another clock, digital this time, counting down by minutes.

00:03

'That must be how much time I had left...' He chuckled out loud. "Now is the kind of time when I relish in the fact that I don't care about-"

00:00

**GRAAAOOOHHH!!!!**

He was thrown backwards a good four meters from the large chakra wave from the door. Rising quickly to his feet and sprinting down the hall, he was once again glad he'd retained his training.

'That was the kitsune, and no doubt he set the other one free before setting his sights on Hatori.' He clutched the keys in his fist as he ran down the hall before sliding to a stop in front of a table, lit only by a soft yellow light above it. Looking around for the first time since he'd gotten out of the room, he found himself to be in some sort of large, old, decrepit basement, most likely under an old nukenin warehouse or some type of hideout. 'When I get my hands on the fucker that trapped me here!'

He let the threat carry on in his mind as he aproached the table. On the table was a small box; he opened it, and inside was a tape player and a small medical kit. He pressed the play button.

_"Hello, Danzou. Since you're playing this tape your self-teachings have come in handy and Nesa's life was taken. No doubt Misa and Nalumi are devouring her as we speak."_

Danzou narrowed his eye.

'Whoever this kid is, he's good.' He grinned. 'Nevermind the torture; this kid is getting inducted into my ranks!'

_"As you can see, there is a medical kit in the box. knowing you, there are severe cuts on both of your hands and wrists. I wouldn't want to risk you getting an infection when I have so much planned for you still."_

Danzou stopped grinning.

"What?!"

_"That's right, Danzou. Nesa lost hers, and this is the end: game over. You won. But now, Danzou, I will reveal to you yours. Danzou, I want to play a game."_

~Flashback End~

Danzou checked the clock before turning the intercom back on.

00:15:01

He checked in on the occupants of the room before starting the tape. It seems Waso and Bantsu were having a conversation; Bantsu had found the box, and Waso was lighting a cigarette. He saw Bantsu unsuccessfully trying sneak looks at the camera. He turned the intercom off.

'They're slower than the kid thought they'd be.'

_At the end of the hall there is a door that leads to a control room. The room connected to it is a still-functioning bathroom, and there are two men inside. You may know them, you may not. Either way, they're going to wake up soon, and they're going to start playing your game. However, this one isn't going to belong to one person, as it did with Nesa; this game involves all the players. When you step into that room, the door will lock, and it can't be opened from the inside. You can't access the other door from this side either, so this is your only option. When they awaken, you will give them a few details as to what is going on, and then you will play them the first tape in the room. You will not tell them your name, how you're connected, what the consiquences for breaking the rules are or what you just went through before the time comes. If you do, my cameras will see you, hear you. I'll be informed, and your precious secret organisation will be destroyed. I'm in a position where I can pop in at any moment and relay the whereabouts, plans, and current members of ROOT to the Hokage. With proof._

When Danzou checked the monitors again, Waso was spasming uncontrolably on the ground.

"I killed him, see?! I won! NOW LET ME GO!"

'Idiot. The liquid isn't really poison, it's a combustion agent. If he'd really lit up that fluid, he'd have blown the top half of his body to tiny bits!'

_I'm counting on you Danzou; if you have any hope of winning this game, you'll keep them alive as long as possible. If either one of them dies, those shackles double as heart monitors. If both of them stop receiving a signal, another one tailed kitsune will be released across the hall and will devour you. One dead will open her door, the other will awaken her. She may not be starving, but her kits are, and you know how mothers are with their children. If you pass the game, you'll have ten minutes after their door opens to leave the building. If you're not gone, she'll get you, and you'll be turned into kit food. Don't forget to tell them to play by the rules, too. If they don't, she's unleashed on all of you and the Hokage still hears of Root. Good luck._

He flipped a red swtich to his right and watched as Waso sprang to life, spasming in real pain for exactly thirty seconds before he switched it off. He turned on the intercom.

"You have to play by the rules! Now shut up and listen to the next tape!"

He pressed the play button.

Waso cursed as their plan went down the drain. He hadn't even gotten to finnish the cigarette.

_"You may be wondering why your little trick didn't work."_

Waso and Bantsu froze. How had he known?!

_"I'll have you know that little stint is against the rules!"_

Up in the control room, Danzou froze.

_Hello Danzou. I know you're upset, but this tape is meant for your ears only! The rules of this game are simple. The ones you already know: you can't tell them your name, what the consiquences of breaking the rules are, the game you just played with Nesa, how you're all connected, or what they're supposed to be doing. The ones you don't know: you aren't allowed to tell them to stop killing each other; if they do find a way, you must let it happen;if they mess up, and break their rules, you'll all be punished, but you can't tell them what they are. Now, I'll tell you their rules. They only have two: they have to play, and they have to use what they have right to play._

_"Now, the shock treatment was your warning, but only because I knew it would happen. That liquid isn't poison, it's a very volitle explosive. If Waso had actually lit that on fire, he'd be dead right now. Consiquentially, Bantsu, so would you. I'll give you your next clue now, so listen!"_

_After that timer reaches fifteen minutes, Danzou, I want you to play their second tape. They're going to try and trick you into thinking one of them is dead so you'll panic, and that tape is going to give them their next clue. Play safe, Danzou. Good luck._

_"The only connection between all of you is a young boy, about my age. What happened on his birthday? You all know it. Good luck."_

--

00:17:42

--

Danzou just sat back in his chair, turning off the intercom. He opted for a nap.

He snapped up almost immediately, hearing the twin screams of two men, one in pain, one in fear. Looking at them, his eye widened as he watched Waso sawing his foot off.

"What the hell are they doing?!?!" He screamed, just as Waso sawed all the way through his foot. A missing section of tile on the wall nearest the chain told Danzou where he'd gotten the saw. He looked at the clock and then back to the scene.

00:29:07

"They only have a minute left! Shit!"

He screamed to himself before running over to the door, tugging uselessly ton the handle, trying desperately to open the door.

'The door is open, who knows when she'll wake up after the time is up?! He didn't say what would happen in this situation!'

He froze when he heard the screaming stop. He turned back just in time to see the timer reach it's mark.

00:30:00

He just sat there for a minute before running to the intercom. Just as he was about to turn it on, a panel on the other side of the room flashed to life and the intercom turned on automatiically.

_"You have failed."_

Danzou, Bantsu and Waso all froze at the direct statement, followed by a small sigh.

Danzou flinched when the timer began beeping. Looking at the screen, he paled.

00:01:00

00:00:59

00:00:58

00:00:57

_"The clock in the control room is counting down from one minute. After that minute, a mother kitsune is going to rip through the walls and drag all of you to her den to feed her five starving kits. You'll be ripped apart and eaten alive. Since you failed, I'll tell you the connection; you have all, at some point in your lives, hurt innocent Uzumaki Naruto in some way. You all live in Konoha, even Danzou up there in the control room."_

00:00:25

00:00:24

00:00:23

00:00:22

_"Now you are all going to die. I am Uzumaki Naruto, I am, as the village has deemed me, the Kitsune Summoner, and my vengance has been sweet. Good bye."_

00:00:08

00:00:07

00:00:06

Danzou wouldn't have it; he'd worked too hard in his life to just die here. He grabbed the chair and threw it at one of the double sided mirrors. He jumped through the hole and ran to the far wall, near Bantsu, ignoring the other door, and grabbed the only place on the wall where there was missing tile and pulled, revealing it to be a large door. He only opened it enough to pass through, ignoring the others' cries and yells for help, and just kept running down the hall. He didn't bother to stop when he saw a table.

00:00:02

00:00:01

00:00:00

--:--:--

**GRAAOOOHHHH!!!**

When Danzou reached a door at the end of the hall he felt his blood run cold when he saw the door was locked. Remembering the keys, he quickly rifled through them, trying each and every one. He was down to ten when he found one that fit, but was shaking uncontrolably; he'd heard a crash down the hall and knew the kitsune had smelled him at the door and was following the trail. He quickly turned the key, rushed through the door and slammed it shut behind him, flinching as not only did it lock behind him, but there was a loud bang right after it.

**GRAAAAAOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!!**

He trambled slightly as he realised he'd litterally had seconds to save himself. He snapped quickly around when the sound of clapping reached his ears. He saw only stairs, but when he looked up, he watched as a small, femanine figure slowly made their way down them, still claping. There were four tails behind them, waving from side to side as they decended each step. Two ears stood on the figure's head, twitching from side to side.

"Well done, Danzou." They said when they reached the bottom step, a good four feet away from him and the door.

He flinched at the familiar sound, and he saw the light from atop the stairs glisten off the small boy's fangs as he grinned a feral grin.

"I'm wondering if that induction offer still stands. I have a few new members for you."

Danzou's eye widened as he realized what the kid was saying.

'He'd known all along that I was going to come out alive...!'

Uzumaki Naruto stepped into full view, a small fox in his arms, two black-tipped red ears atop his head, poking out almost naturally from his yellow hair. Four tails of the same color and design flowed behind him in content amusement. His slitted deep blue eyes, however, were dead. Not emotionless; just completely dead.

"Congratulations, Danzou, you've won the game." He held out his hand, and Danzou knew it was to seal the induction offers.

Danzou shook his hand, a small smirk on his lips.

Naruto suddenly jumped back, all the way to the top of the stairs, and Danzou saw that he was not alone; two figures the same height as him, and a figure much taller than both of them stood behind the frst step which Naruto had landed, all their figures shrouded in shadow from the bright light behind them. He could still see Naruto's glimering fangs, whick were soon joined by the fangs of the other three. He felt his heart stop for a second when their eyes all started showing from the darkness; not glowing, just standing out: one pair Naruto's dead, slit blue, one pair a soft, angry green with four diamond corners surrounding a diamond pupil, another an amused, pupiless yellow, though in the shape of a slit pupil, the last, the tallest figure, bloodthirsty gold, with a black line down the middle for a pupil. Naruto said not a word before they left him to go home on his own.

Danzou didn't get two feet from his position before he spotted one last tape player on the floor. Dreading the message it held, he picked it up and hesitantly pressed play.

_"Good deal."_

* * *

Up in his office, Sarutobi sighed, setting his pipe on his desk. He was beggining to feel his age again; it'd been happening since the Kitsune Summoner had first established himself in Konoha five years and five months ago and started killing villagers.

"He'd started out small," He said, opening one of the large files on his desk. It was marked Kitsune Summoner; Month One. He passed it to the robed figure on the other side of the desk. "A fruit vender missing from his cart for a few days, reported only when the fruit started visably rotting; an old seamstress, thought to have just retired without notice until neighbors reported not seeing her enter or exit her house two weeks later; three local drunks who were thought to have passed out in an alley before the wives, or in one case, daughter, reported them missing the next afternoon. We thought nothing of it until an ANBU squad panickedly reported a four-foot kitsune had appeared in the center of the market with their half-eaten, rotting corpses only to dissapear right after, leaving the victims.

"After that any and all dissapearances were reported to the closest patrolling ANBU member, even if it was simply a lost child that had simply been playing or had engaged a game of hide and seek that was found imediately after. He seemed to have only gotten smarter because of that, though; he only took older, less-public members of the village after that. They didn't have anyone to report them missing, so they weren't. It kept going like that, one time getting up to at least twenty people successfully kidnapped before feeding them to kitsunes and having any remains just suddenly show up in the center of the market. But then..."

He stopped suddenly, rubbing his eyes for a moment, setting his pipe on the desk. He peered over at the other occupants of the room: a jounin with half of his face covered by a tan cloth, the man in front of his desk, and a small, ten year old child. There were also two more, older children in the hall.

"... yes, Sarutobi-san?" The robed figure coaxed. He followed the older man's line of vision. "Ah. Not to worry, Hokage-san, Gaara has had much experiance in this type of thing; he's only here to help us decide what kind of person we're dealing with, and perhaps even catch and eliminate him as well."

The older kage sighed.

'That's why I'm worried about him.' "Yes, you're right Kazekage-san. Where was I again?"

"You were telling us what type of people this man was targeting, and were about to something... strange? Something that happened with his pattern?"

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes, I remember now, thank you. He had a set, undetectable pattern that wasn't noticed until it was too late, but then something happened that we didn't think could ever happen; two of the missing people, a man and a woman, showed up at the gate. They were going to be imediately rushed to the hospital as soon as they were seen, as the man was limping for an unknown reason and the woman was bleeding from a non-functioning arm. They refused so vehemetly the ANBU were temporarily stunned. They demanded to be brought here to see me.

"When they arrived here they had me remove all personell from the room, sound proof, and visually block the room with the strongest jutsu I knew so no one would overhear the conversation. When it was all up, the woman broke into hysterics, sobbing uncontrolably and laying on the floor. The man only limped over and sat in front of my desk. Neither of them said anything until the woman had calmed down and sat as well. She was still bleeding at this point; it may have even gotten worse thanks to her sobbing." He glanced briefly at the chair Gaara was sitting in. "Their... report, per-say, was desturbing to say the least.

"When I asked them where they'd been, they'd looked frightendly around the room for a good minute before giving their answer in the form on their story: They'd both been sleeping in their respective houses, but had then woken up unpleasently on a cold hard floor. They didn't give many details; the rooms looked to be the kind you'd see in a warehouse or a big factory, there was twelve of them to start, things like that. Before I could ask them any questions they continued, telling me of the man who appeared on a television screen in the corner of the room. The image on the screen wasn't the man himself, just a small, common red fox in an animal cage. A few small, babby rabbits had been thrown in, and a disfigured voice had called them each by name before telling them that he wanted to 'play a game' with them. At that point the fox had started killig and eating the baby rabbits. He'd explained to them that with every new 'game' he played he'd change his voice so he couldn't be later identified, the reason he'd shown his fox killing rabbits was to show that, he as the fox and them as the rabbits, he'd trapped them and they weren't going to escape any time soon.

"They explained how they'd planned to catch him off guard by using jutsu against the room, but he'd anticipated it already; he knew they could all use chakra, so he'd already gotten the room ready for it, and now they couldn't use chakra or they'd be killed by the chakra-triggered vents that would release poisonus gasses for the amount of chakra used. He then showed them the trap they were in using different prey animals, rabbits, mice, and the like. Then the image had split and they saw an adult male fox running through a maze; the animals were at the end.

"He explained that they had until the hungry kitsune he'd placed at the start of the maze reached their room to get free. There was only one door, only one door, only one safe way out. The only problem was they needed to find the key. There was one for each of them but only half of them worked. The other half would set off a trap in the door that would kill them painfully, and almost instantly. The trick to the game was that the keys were hidden all throughout last half of the maze, and in order to find the keys and get even one of them out safely they had to find the one thing that connected them all besides their age and decifer the clues to find the right keys. They wouldn't tell me what the connection was, however.

"A few of the other people had been cocky and had gone off in the maze to find the keys without the others' help. These two had stayed behind with the rest and decifered the areas where there were the right keys. Apparently they'd all been hidden in that room, and the lethal keys were the only ones hidden in the maze. They'd managed to get four out of the room, including them, when they'd heard a loud roar form the other side of the door right before a trap was triggered. They guessed one of the people who'd gone off on their own had found a key, but had caught the eye of the kitsune on their way back and had led it directly to the others.

"They went on to tell about two other games they'd been forced to play before they'd gotten free and come back as fast as they could. It turns out the man wasn't too harmed physically, but he didn't have access to his cane. Because I hadn't gotten my answer the first time, I asked again exactly _where _they'd been. They'd lost what little color they'd regained through the story, and I got suspicious and asked them why they wouldn't tell me. The woman seemed to have finally snapped; she slammed her hands on the desk and yelled 'Because we're still playing!' Almost immediately after, the man exploded, having been secretly fitted with exploding tags. That's the reason your chair is newer than Gaara's. From the debri, an envelope managed to land, perfectly unharmed, in front of her on the desk. She calmly sat back down, as if the entire time she'd been faking hysteria, and opened the envelope, taking a tape player out of her robe as she emptied it. She took out the exsisting tape, crushed it with her foot before I could get it, and played the new tape. The contents of the tape is written in that file, at the very end. The end of that month is when the sick games had stopped.

"The woman had proceeded to place the tape player in front of me before leaving. I learned later that she jumped off the Hokage tower and killed herself."

The old man sat back with a sigh, feeling suddenly tired.

The Kazekage flipped to the back of the file and began to read the contents of the tape. A tug at his sleeve made him look down at his son.

"Read it aloud?" Gaara asked, an emotionless mask over his face.

The Kazekage nodded.

"Of course."

The Hokage deftly noted that the exchange was similar to a son asking his father to read him a story before bedtime; only gruesome, and the child couldn't sleep anyway.

"The tape starts out by saying, 'Hello, Hokage-san. Right now you just witnessed a surviving winner of one of my games walk out of the room, no doubt dispelling the privacy jutsus I requested be put up. That's fine. Listen closely, Hokage-san, because I'm only going to say this once... though, it's on a tape, so you could just rewind it later. I am _not_ killing without meaning. I am not some deranged psycho preying on the innocent to get recognition. These are acts of vengence, for a tourtured soul. I speak of Uzumaki Naruto, the container for the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I have never met this child, but I have heard secondhand the kinds of torture he has been subject to. I must tell you that the teachings of my kind strictly abhore this behavior, for any reason. I am trained to summon kitsune, hence my constant use of them, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that poor child is never beaten or stabbed or burnt ever again, even if I have to wipe out the whole of Konoha to do it. Through one of my more personal games, I have recruited a follower, and I plan to keep recruiting through the same process.

"I hope to one day meet Uzumaki Naruto, and until I do I will keep seeking vengence for the child's poor soul.'"

At the end, the Hokage cut in.

"After that the large groups of elderly people stopped dissapearing, but then the reports of singular people started happening about a year later, just when we thought he'd left. At the same time as the year before he started abducting in groups, but this time, before the month was over, he sent over a chakra absorbing blue kitsune, no bigger than a house cat, with a tape player in its mouth, expressing his interest in being adressed by chunin and jounin as the Unnamed Kitsune Summoner. He explained that since he'd been called the Kitsune Summoner, he felt he wasn't truly unnamed. It's about that time that I noticed a few of the ninja I sent out of the village on missions were late returning back. I became aware then that the Kitsune Summoner was able and enforced the ablitity to capture high ranked ninja, and not just civilions.

"It was then that his old pattern returned, and it didn't stop until he had at least one survivor. We learned the hard way in Month Nine that 'survivor' was a loose term; the person survived the game, but didn't neccesarily survive the way home. In those cases, which were most of them, the body would be delivered by a kitsune, unchewed or eaten in any way but still dead, with an envelope addressed to me, explaining that they won, but died after the game was over. The pattern has continued the same way, games lasting about a month, maybe a bit more, up to this year. He hasn't started yet from what we can tell, but over the years He's attained two followers, each of them attained through personal, or single-player, games that end a week before the groups dissapear. Also, two years ago he somehow found a way to tell who will survive and when, because now the last game played has stopped being in a warehouse of basement, and has been in one of the abandoned buildings instead, leaving us to find the place and the other victims."

The Kazekage only nodded, setting the folder aside. He propped his elboes on the desk and placed his head on his hands.

"Do you have any idea who these followers might be?"

The Hokage shook his head.

"I'm affraid not; the subject is either never seen again or is returned before their absence is realised once the games end. It's impossible to tell."

The Kazekage nodded.

Just then they were interrupted by scratching from the window. They all turned to look, finding a small, cobalt-blue, white-tipped fox outside the window, almost seeming to glow in the light from the full moon. Sarutobi stood and opened the window, and they all watched at it hopped inside before scurrying over to the desk and, landing on the chair first, jumping on top. It dropped an envelope just as the Hokage sat down. It sat too, confusing the Hokage, before looking directly at Gaara. It tilted its head in confusion.

Gaara and the small blue kitsune had a small staring match before Gaara got up and grabbed it, holding it to his chest as he climbed back into his seat and started cuddling it like a stuffed toy.

The Hokage was hesitant to allow the action, but since the kitsune wasn't doing any harm he wasn't going to say anything. He opened the envelope, sighing as the familiar tape player fell into his hand.

"This means he found another one... most likely a soul survivor of a multi-player game, considering how late in October it is. Tomorrow's the last day afterall." He rambled to himself, pressing play.

Shhhhhffff- _"Hello, Sarutobi."_

The Hokage was taken aback by the soft, feminine voice on the tape.

_"I am not the Kitsune Summoner, I am only a follower, but right now the Kitsune Summoner is in an important meeting. The Kitsune Summoner entrusted me to tell you of the new followers in their stead."_

Sarutobi was shocked. Follow_ers_?! There were more than one?!

_"As of this day's game, the winner extended onto us a partnership; right now, the Kitsune Summoner has eighteen new followers, making the grand total twenty one. We have enough influence now that we will officially stop the constant game after game after game pattern; we will now make a more subtle approach until she deems the public ready for her identity to be revealed. The constant action of game after game was only to reveal who we could recruit and who we could not."_

The Hokage was about ready to have a heart attack. He went to turn the stop button off, but there was more. Oh, how he wished there hadn't been.

_"Hello Gaara."_

Both the Kages in the room paled at the greeting given by the same soft voice. Their hearts stopped momentarily When Gaara nodded casually to the tape player.

_"It's time you moved in. Shiva, now!"_

Gaara and the blue kitsune, Shiva, were surrounded imediately by a ribbon of ice-blue flame. When the flames dissapated, Gaara and the kitsune were gone, only a blue mark left on the chair.

_"Hokage, Kazekage; Shukaku is in our pen now. And now that Gaara controls him, he can finally go to sleep. Burn in hell, Kazekage-san. Good night."_


End file.
